Soaps watch.

Eplin Back For More On `Another World'

September 01, 1995|By Marla Hart. Special to the Tribune.

If David Caruso ever returned to "NYPD Blue," it would be big news for primetime TV viewers. But in daytime television, stars leave, then return to the same soap even before a new crack appears in their parking spaces. In fact, daytime fans have come to expect it.

So when actor Tom Eplin left "Another World" in February after nine years in the role of Jake, the only real surprise was how quickly the 35-year-old actor returned. He was back in May.

Eplin originally split when he found himself between a demographic rock and a hard place. On the one hand, teenybopppers cared more about his chest dimensions than the more subtle attributes he brought to Jake's lady-killing persona. On the other hand, he was too cheeky for the older viewers of "Another World."

But when "AW" overhauled its operation with a new headwriter and producer, Eplin was eager to return. He'd become downright proprietory about his character.

"The thought of someone else playing Jake made me lose sleep," Eplin says in all seriousness. "I took some time off. It was a good experience. I auditioned. I was able to turn down roles. Nothing came across my desk that was as good as Jake.

"I don't think anybody does it better in daytime than me. I've cornered the market on it: canned passion. I'm ready to explode at any moment."

Clearly a man given to dramatic exclamations, Eplin is not far from the mark. In constantly churning out new subtexts for the blackmailing entrepreneur-ladies man, Eplin plays Jake as a flawed anti-hero who possesses a sly sense of humor, no principles, a short fuse and lots of libido.

" is a medium about giving people the ball," he says. "When you get the ball you have to run with it." For good measure, he adds "When the light shines on your horse you better be ready. What person can get on national TV every day of their life without having an ego?"

Eplin may have ego to spare, but what he was short last year was a good plot. His storyline had stranded him in a happy relationship--certain oblivion for a leading man in daytime drama.

"I was skating, just checking in and checking out with the relationship-based story," Eplin says, explaining his sudden departure.

Born and raised in northern California the oldest of three children, Eplin dismisses any artistic predilections, even though he attended the prestigious American Conservatory in San Francisco. "I grew up like every boy. I wanted to be an astronaut or a fireman," he said.

"I went to sleep and 10 years later I woke up and I was acting. I pretty much got the first part I auditioned for, which was Jake," he recalls. "I was naive. I read the scene, they asked me to do it again and I said, `Why? I thought it was good.' And I got the part."

Through it all, he has engaged colleagues and audience alike with a "Get ready, let's try this" approach to acting. He cites a minor spat with a director over how to stage a scene involving his girlfriend and a gunman. "I told the director, `Let me put her in front of the gun. We don't see that much on daytime.' I don't have to be a hero, I don't have to be, period.

"I fit into the loose cannon mold," Eplin continued. "I don't think I could possibly be considered conventional. There's a whole lot of acting going on on daytime. I react as opposed to act. I'm a method actor but my method is like climbing to the top of the building and jumping."

- Looking ahead to the fall season, Soapswatch predicts that daytime producers will continue salivating for the youth market. Putting beauty before age is a particularly annoying strategy (devised by people who are virtually all over 30) because so few of the young additions have anything substantial to contribute and wind up jumping ship for "Melrose Place" or "Burke's Law" the first chance they get. Older characters will depart "As The World Turns" and those remaining will have less screen time. "One Life To Live" is skewing younger as high-schoolers begin their first romances.

At the same time, producers will throw a bone to over-30 viewers by bringing back familiar characters purged during previous "fire-the-old-faces" cutbacks.

Romance is back and socially relevant issues are out. Look for more hand-holding and fewer handguns.

There will be more payoffs and shorter story arcs, especially on "Guiding Light," which plans to structure a cliffhanger at the end of each day's episode.

And don't think for a minute that the O.J. Simpson trial is going unnoticed by soap writers. Murder trials are on hand for "Loving," "Days" and "The Young and the Restless."